Chief, my grandfather was full Native American. He left the reservation and went up to Nova Scotia at 18 to look for work. He didn't get treated any better there than here in the States. So he left and came to Massachusetts. He was able to secure a job and settle down with a wife and children. One of them was my father. As a child, he got the same treatment as my grandfather. Not too welcome in some parlors. As he got older, if you ask him his nationality, he would tell you "Nothing" and change the subject real quick. The only problem was that he had his mother's red hair and yet looked just like his father. My grandfather had the sense to register all of his children with the tribe even though none were born on the reservation.

I consider myself more Native American than any other nationality. I look like my father. Unfortunately for me, the only thing that I have ever done as one, is open a can of corn. So when it comes to checking off that little box that wants to know your nationality, I leave it blank. Not out of shame for my heritage, but for the fact that I could have done more.

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Illegitimi non carborundum!
I don't want my last words to be, "I wish I had spent more time doing housework"